Why do most businesses lose customers? Apathy after the sale.
Most businesses lose customers by ignoring them to death.

Misguided business owners think marketing is over once
they've made the sale. Wrong! Marketing begins once
you've made the sale.

Guerrillas make follow-up a part of their businesses because
they know it costs six times more to sell something to a new
customer than to an existing customer. When a guerrilla makes a
sale, the customer receives a follow-up thank-you note within 48
hours.

Thirty days after the sale, the guerrilla sends another note or
makes a phone call. This contact is to see if everything is going
all right with the purchase and if the customer has any questions.
It also helps to solidify the relationship.

Guerrillas send their customers another note within 90 days,
this time informing them of a related product or service.

After six months, the customer hears from the guerrilla
again--this time with the preview announcement of an upcoming
sale.

Nine months after the sale, the guerrilla sends a note asking
the customer for the names of three people who might benefit from
being included on the guerrilla's mailing list. A simple form
and a postage-paid envelope are provided. Because the guerrilla has
been keeping in touch with the customer--and because only three
names are requested--the customer usually supplies the names.

After one year, the customer receives a card celebrating the
anniversary of the first sale. Perhaps a coupon for a discount is
tucked into the envelope.

Fifteen months after the sale, the customer receives a
questionnaire designed to give the guerrilla insights into the
customer. The questionnaire starts with "We know your time is
valuable, but we're asking so many questions because the more
we know about you, the better service we can give you." This
makes sense. The customer completes the questionnaire.

Eighteen months after the sale, the customer receives an
announcement of still more new products and services tied in with
the original purchase. And the beat goes on. The customer, rather
than being a onetime buyer, becomes a repeat buyer--the kind of
buyer who refers others to the guerrilla's business. A bond is
formed. The bond intensifies with time and follow-up.

Let me put this in numeric terms. Suppose you are not a
guerrilla and do not understand follow-up. A customer walks in,
makes a purchase and leaves. You pocket $200 in profits. Hey, $200
isn't bad. But let's say you were a guerrilla.

That means you send the customer the thank-you note, the
one-month note, the three-month note, the six-month note, the
nine-month note, the anniversary card, the questionnaire and the
constant alerting of new offerings. The customer, instead of making
one purchase during the year, makes three purchases. He or she also
refers four other people to your business. Your bond is not merely
for the length of your original $200 transaction but for up to,
say, 20 years.

Because of follow-up, that customer is worth $400,000 to you.
That's your choice: $200 with no follow-up or $400,000 with
follow-up. And the cost of follow-up is not high because you
already have the customer's name.

Prospect follow-up is equally important, though slightly
different. For one thing, you can't send a thank-you note--yet.
But you can consistently follow up, hanging in there and realizing
that if you're second in line, you'll get the business when
the business that's first in line messes up. And they will. You
know how? Of course you do. They'll fail to follow up.

Jay Conrad Levinson is author of the internationally
acclaimed Guerrilla Marketing International. For more information
on the Guerrilla Marketing Newsletter and other products and
services, write to P.O. Box 1336, Mill Valley, CA 949442; call
(800) 748-644; or visit the Web site at (http://www.gmarketing.com)